1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the engagement of the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device such as the display monitor of a computer.
2. Related Art
Information providers of all sorts have an interest in presenting their information to information consumers and, in particular, to information consumers who may, or do, have an interest in the particular information provided by the particular information provider. At the same time, information consumers have an interest in accessing a wide variety of information and, in particular, information in which the information consumer may, or does have an interest. Given the extent to which computers now permeate society, and particularly in view of the escalation of networking of those computers in various ways, there is increasing recognition of the capability of using computers, and, in particular, computers (and other devices) that are interconnected in a network, as an information dissemination tool that can satisfy the interests of both information providers and information consumers.
For example, information providers have used public computer networks (e.g., the Internet) and private computer networks (e.g., commercial online services such as America Online, Prodigy and CompuServe) to disseminate their information. This information can be displayed to a computer user having access to the network directly in response to a request from the user or indirectly (i.e., without request by the user) as a result of another action taken by the user. While these methods of information dissemination and acquisition can be effective, they do not exhaust the possibilities.
In a different vein, historically, computers have frequently included screen saving mechanisms (xe2x80x9cscreen saversxe2x80x9d) intended to prevent the phosphors of a computer display screen from burning out when the same image remains on the screen for a long period of time, such as might occur during a long period of inactivity while the computer is operating. As computer display screen technology has progressed, the use of screen savers to preserve the display screen has become increasingly unnecessary. However, the use of screen savers has continuedxe2x80x94even proliferatedxe2x80x94likely due to the aesthetic or entertainment value provided by the imagery of many screen savers. Further, the use of xe2x80x9cwallpaperxe2x80x9d (i.e., a pattern generated in the background portions on a computer display screen) in computer display screens has also arisen, largely one would suspect because of the aesthetic or entertainment value of the wallpaper imagery. While the use of screen savers and wallpaper with computer displays appeals to many users because of the imagery they present to the user, screen savers and wallpaper have not heretofore been used as a means to convey information from information providers to computer users. Further, screen savers and wallpaper have previously been implemented as relatively simple, self-contained computer application programs that are not typically integrated with other application programs or other aspects of computer operation. In particular, screen saver and wallpaper application programs have not been constructed to enable retrieval of display content from a remote location via a computer network.
An attention manager according to the invention presents information to a person in the vicinity of a display device in a manner that engages the peripheral attention of the person. Often, the display device is part of a broader apparatus (e.g., the display device of a computer). Generally, the attention manager makes use of xe2x80x9cunused capacityxe2x80x9d of the display device. For example, the information can be presented to the person while the apparatus (e.g., computer) is operating, but during inactive periods (i.e., when a user is not engaged in an intensive interaction with the apparatus). Or, the information can be presented to the person during active periods (i.e., when a user is engaged in an intensive interaction with the apparatus), but in an unobtrusive manner that does not distract the user from the primary interaction with the apparatus (e.g., the information is presented in areas of a display screen that are not used by displayed information associated with the primary interaction with the apparatus).
The information is embodied as one or more sets of content data. The sets of content data represent sensory data; typically, the sensory data is either video or audio data. Each set of content data is formulated by a content provider and made available for use by an attention manager according to the invention. Each content providing system can provide more than one set of content data. The content providing systems provide user interface tools that enable a particular set of content data to be requested. Once one or more sets of content data has been acquired, a content display system integrates scheduling information for all sets of content data to produce a schedule according to which an image or images corresponding to the sets of content data are displayed on a display device associated with the content display system.
A set or sets of instructions for enabling a display device to selectively display an image or images generated from a set of content data are also made available for use by the content display systems. Typically, the instructions enable images generated from content data to be displayed automatically, without user intervention, in a predetermined manner, thereby enhancing the capability of the invention to occupy the user""s peripheral attention. Further, the attention manager can be implemented so that the instructions are automatically acquired (or updated, if necessary) each time a user requests acquisition of a set of content data, thereby making acquisition of the instructions transparent to the user of the attention manager and thus increasing the ease of use for the user. The instructions can include application instructions, control instructions and content data acquisition instructions. The application instructions can include operating instructions for beginning, managing, and terminating operation of the attention manager on a content display system, content display system scheduling instructions for scheduling the display of content data on a content display system, and installation instructions for installing the operating instructions and content display system scheduling instructions on a content display system. The control instructions can include display instructions for enabling generation of images from the content data on a particular type of display device or from a particular type of content data, and content data scheduling instructions for enabling temporal control of the display of the images generated from a set or sets of content data. The content data acquisition instructions can include acquisition instructions for enabling the acquisition of a set of content data, content data update instructions for enabling update of a previously acquired set of content data, and user interface installation instructions for enabling provision of a user interface that allows a person to request a set of content data from a content providing system. Each of the application, control and content data acquisition instructions could be acquired from a content provider, or any one or all of the sets of instructions could be acquired from an application manager that provides generic sets of instructions that can be tailored as necessary or desirable by a content provider. Additionally, audit instructions can be made available that enable monitoring of usage of the attention manager.
According to one aspect of the invention, an attention manager engages the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device of an apparatus by acquiring one or more sets of content data from a content providing system and selectively displaying on the display device, in an unobtrusive manner that does not distract a user of the apparatus from a primary interaction with the apparatus, an image or images generated from the set of content data. According to a further aspect of the invention, the selective display of the image or images begins automatically after detection of an idle period of predetermined duration (the xe2x80x9cscreen saver embodimentxe2x80x9d). This aspect can be implemented, for example, using the screen saver API (application program interface) that is part of many operating systems. According to another further aspect of the invention, the selective display of an image or images occurs while the user is engaged in a primary interaction with the apparatus, which primary interaction can result in the display of an image or images in addition to the image or images generated from the set of content data (the xe2x80x9cwallpaper embodimentxe2x80x9d). If multitasking is allowed by the apparatus (e.g., by the computer operating system) with which the attention manager is used, the attention manager can be implemented so that, when operation of the attention manager is terminated, the user is returned to the state of the primary interaction that existed when operation of the attention manager began. The attention manager can also be implemented so that, during operation of the attention manager, the user is presented with a number of options regarding further use of the attention manager. In particular, one of the options can allow additional information to be obtained that is related to the set of content data for which an image is being displayed. Where the attention manager is implemented as part of a network, this option can enable information to be obtained from a remote information source via the network. Another option that can be implemented allows a user to specify a satisfaction level for a set of content data from which an image or images is being displayed, thereby affecting the frequency with which that set of content data is used by the attention manager in the future.
According to another aspect of the invention, an attention manager that engages the peripheral attention of a person in the vicinity of a display device includes a content display system associated with the display device, a mechanism that can communicate with the content display system via a first communications mechanism to provide to the content display system a set of instructions for enabling the display device to selectively display content data, and a content providing system that can communicate with the content display device via a second communications mechanism to provide a set of content data to the content display system. The content display system uses the provided set of instructions to selectively display on the display device an image or images generated from the provided content data. The attention manager according to this aspect of the invention can further include an application management system that can communicate via a third communications mechanism to provide to either the content providing system or the content display system one or more sets of instructions for enabling a display device to selectively display an image or images generated from a set of content data. In the former case, the content providing system can, in turn, communicate with the content display system to provide the one or more sets of instructions. The attention manager according to this aspect of the invention can be implemented, for example, using existing computer networks of information sources, such as the Internet (in particular, the World Wide Web) or commercial online services, advantageously making use of pre-existing hardware and software for enabling communication over those networks. Typically, though not necessarily, an attention manager according to this aspect of the invention will include multiple content display systems and multiple content providing systems. The content providing systems will each be capable of providing one or more sets of content data, so that, overall, there will be multiple available sets of content data which can be of different types. There can also be multiple sets of instructions for enabling a display device to selectively display an image or images generated from a set of content data, which sets of instructions may be tailored to display images from particular types of content data or to display content data using a particular display device.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer readable medium can be encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling acquisition of a set of content data and display of an image or images generated from the set of content data on a display device during operation of an attention manager. The instructions of the computer program can include: i) acquisition instructions for enabling acquisition of a set of content data from a specified information source, ii) user interface installation instructions for enabling provision of a user interface that allows a person to request the set of content data from the specified information source, iii) content data scheduling instructions for providing temporal constraints on the display of the image or images generated from the set of content data, and iv) display instructions for enabling display of the image or images generated from the set of content data. The computer readable medium can also further include content data update instructions for enabling acquisition of an updated set of content data from an information source that corresponds to a previously acquired set of content data, the content data update instructions specifying where and when to obtain the updated set of content data. The content data scheduling instructions can specify, for example, the duration of time that the image or images generated from a set of content data can be displayed, an order in which the images generated from a plurality of sets of content data are displayed, a time or times at which the image or images generated from a set of content data can or cannot be displayed, and/or constraint on the number of times that the image or images generated from a set of content data can be displayed. The display instructions can be tailored to enable display of the image or images generated from a set of content data on a display device of a particular type, or display of an image or images generated from a set of content data of a particular type.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a computer readable medium can be encoded with one or more computer programs for enabling a content display system to selectively display on a display device, in an unobtrusive manner that does not distract a person from a primary interaction with an apparatus associated with the display device, an image generated from a set of content data. The instructions of the computer program can include: i) operating instructions for beginning, managing and terminating the selective display of the image on the display device, ii) content display system scheduling instructions for scheduling the display of the image on the display device, and iii) installation instructions for installing the operating instructions and content display system scheduling instructions on a content display system. The computer readable medium can also further include audit instructions for monitoring usage of the content display system to selectively display an image generated from a set of content data.
The attention manager according to the invention is a new and useful mechanism for providing information to users of the attention manager. The attention manager provides information in which a user has expressed an interest and, importantly, information that the user might not otherwise expend adequate energy to obtain. The user can tailor the information provided by interacting with specific information sources to indicate interest in particular information provided by a specific information source while the user is perusing other information from that information source (as opposed to giving a general indication of interest in information on a particular subject or of a particular kind, from which indication information that matches the indicated interest is automatically provided from various information sources). The user can also choose information from a wide variety of information sources; in particular, when the attention manager is implemented using a network (e.g., the Internet), the user can acquire information from a wide variety of remote information sources. Additionally, the information is presented to the user in a manner that uses portions of the user""s attention capacity that may otherwise be unused or filled with extraneous information.
The attention manager according to the invention also provides a new and useful information dissemination tool to content providers. The attention manager affords an opportunity to content providers to disseminate their information to users that are interested in receiving such information, enabling the content providers to provide better directed information dissemination. Moreover, the attention manager provides access to the previously unused attention capacity of those interested users. Additionally, the attention manager allows content providers to tailor particular aspects of the attention manager as desired by the content provider, such as the acquisition of updated sets of the content provider""s content data (e.g., the frequency of such updates), the display scheduling and manner of display of the content provider""s content data, and the user interface that enables users to specify acquisition of the content provider""s content data.